Why aren't you watching the NBC comedy 'The Good Place'? Don't you have friends who care enough to tell you about great shows on TV? Are you some sort of contrarian curmudgeon? In case you're wondering, it stars Ted Danson and Kristen Bell, the later of whom wakes up at the start of the series to find that she has died and is in 'the good place'. It's quickly revealed that there has been a clerical error, that she's there by mistake, and that she is actually a terrible person, and as such begins to cause terrible consequences for the perfect balance there. It's a great setup, but the writers do so much more with the premise than expected. Although ostensibly a sitcom, it borrows from modern box-set trend of having an overarching story and extended character development that you can't just drop down into the middle of (you'll need to start at the beginning), but it never feels leaden with plot. Mixing in a superb cast of supporting ...

So I, err, 'obtained' a copy of S. Darko, and now aren't you glad that I did, because you don't have to wait your turn. I mistakenly presumed that Richard Kelly, written/director of the original Donnie Darko was involved somehow, I imagined that perhaps given the less then stellar performance of Southland Tales (neither a critical or box office success), that he had returned to the Darko universe for a little comfort. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, because I actually thought Southland Tales was good. Believing that when watching the film made for a strange experience above and beyond the self-consciously contrived actual strangeness of it. All of these 'Kelly-esque' were there, but it was like the film-maker didn't know how to put them together. Which would have been odd if Kelly actually had a hand in it, but he didn't. Not even some vague EP credit, nothing. He basically disavowed the thing that was created by the studio that owns...

Aah, Tuesday night television. First there is Two and a Half 'men' . What crap. It disturbs me that this show is popular, and it's just ruined Holland Taylor for me now, I used to like her in The Practice and Ally McBeal . Then there is the absurdly awful 10 Years Younger in Ten Days . Why do I feel that the show was made in Sydney. Maybe because the goal seems to be to make real people look plastic and fake, and possibly make the yuppy aging producers feel better about themselves. One of the few make-over shows that makes me want to vomit when they do the reveal at the end. Perhaps I just don't watch enough of them. Turning people into alien latex heads might be amusing, if it wasn't so depressing that they are so willing submit themselves to such hideous humiliation. So are the contestants on Hell's Kitchen , which is somehow supposed to justify Ramsey's behaviour. Oh, they chose to be treated like shit, so it's ok. Never mind the fact that he is a fu...

You've probably heard at least some of Madonna's newest album Hard Candy . Lucky you. That means you've turned on a TV or Radio at some point in the last couple of weeks. There are a few tracks on Hard Candy that aren't all that bad, but as a whole the album is determinedly average. '4 Minutes' has got to be one of the most irritating tracks on the album. The whole track sounds like it's just about to get started, but never actually does, even with the enjoyably ominous backing. If Madonna was a Sith Lord this would be her Imperial March. Wait, maybe she is a Sith Lord. She never seems to die, and you only see her wrinkles when she reveals her evil side. In one song he even claims to be able to recognise people better then the devil. Unfortunately no Sith Lord would ever be satisfied with lyrics as stupid as those in '4 minutes'. "If you want it, You already got it; If you thought it, It better be what you want; If you feel it, It must be real...

I've been quite busy recently, what with my trip to Melbourne the weekend before last and the Mobile Enterprise course I was doing through work last weekend. On top of that I've been going to see a few different things, and so hence this round-up of reviews. It's not because my opinion matters, or for posterity, but rather to make me feel like the last few weeks have been productive in some way. I shall start from most recent and work backwards until I reach a point of boredom. Don't worry it wont take long. Chalkies - Holden Street Theatres This locally produced comedy/musical/play by Matt Byrne is about teachers, students and school amalgamations.It runs for nearly two and half hours, though on the plastic, ex-classroom seats in HST, my ass thought it was closer to five hours. Four actors play over 30 characters between them, some of the well, some of them not so well. While there was plenty of amusement in Chalkies, that shouldn't have been too difficult given th...

Ok, so I finally listened to Illinoise. *sigh* It's very easy to get me to like a piece of music, just stick some harmonies or choral backing in there, and BAM you've got me. Hah! I see right through it now. What does Sufjan qualify as anyway, "folksy/epic"? He's just so 'indie-movie starring Zac Braff sound track look at me aren't I cute and quirky'. Look at that picture, all it's missing is the shirt-matching wallpaper in the background. But that's not to say I don't like indie movies. Did he just say all the glory the Lord has made? He didn't really just say he cried himself to sleep last night? Oh, how poetic. No really, I like it. Despite the somewhat cloying lyrics, I have no doubt I'll find myself humming along with them. The instrumental bits are quite pretty too. I guess. I'm not really in love with the place in Sufjan's mind, but I wouldn't mind popping in for a cup of tea every now and then.

After months of drooling over the clever viral campaign and teaser footage, I finally saw Cloverfield last Friday. Sigh. Sometimes I wish all Hollywood features would only be a maximum of five minutes long, then it might be possible for them to just be on par with their trailers. I think Manohla Dargis over at the New York Times summed Cloverfield up succinctly when she said, Like too many big-studio productions, “Cloverfield” works as a showcase for impressively realistic-looking special effects, a realism that fails to extend to the scurrying humans whose fates are meant to invoke pity and fear but instead inspire yawns and contempt. What disappoints me, and this isn't the first time JJ Abrams has disappointed me, is that the basis of this film is an excellent conceit, but it seems rushed and not very thought through. I will admit that I loved Shyamalan's 'Signs', and one of the best moments in that film is when Joaquin Pheonix's character, sitting in the closet, ...